Translation commentary on Mark 6:15 – 6:16

Text:

At the end of verse 16, after ēgerthē ‘was raised’ Textus Receptus adds ek nekrōn ‘from the dead,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

Ēlias (8.28; 9.4, 5, 11, 12, 13; 15.35, 36) ‘Elijah’: cf. Mal. 3.1, 4.5, for O.T. references to the coming of Elijah as predecessor of the Messiah, and see Mk. 9.9-13 for the application of this prophecy to the Baptist.

prophētēs (cf. 1.2) ‘prophet.’

hōs heis tōn prophetōn ‘as one of the prophets’: generally taken to mean ‘as one of the Prophets of old’ as Lk. 9.8 has it (cf. The Modern Speech New Testament ‘like one of the great Prophets’). Black, however, suggests ‘a prophet, like any (true) prophet.’

hon egō apekephalisa Iōannēn houtos ēgerthē ‘John, whom I beheaded, he was raised’: in a construction not at all unusual in Greek, the relative pronoun, which is the object of the verb and thus in the accusative case, is placed before its antecedent; the antecedent, being incorporated into the relative clause, is, by what is called “inverse attraction,” also in the accusative case. This construction is equivalent to Iōannēs, hon egō apekephalisa, houtos ēgerthē: ‘John’ in the nominative case, as the subject of the sentence; ‘whom’ the relative is in the accusative case as the object of ‘I beheaded’; houtos ‘this one’ the demonstrative pronoun is in the nominative case agreeing with ‘John’ to which it refers.

apokephalizō (6.28) ‘beheaded.’

egeirō (cf. 1.31) ‘rise.’

Translation:

The contrast between some (verse 14) … but others … and others must be quite explicit in some languages, e.g. ‘some people … other people … and still other people.’

Elijah should be transliterated in the form which will be employed in the Old Testament. Some translators have endeavored to use one system of transliteration when reproducing the Greek forms of names and another when transcribing the Hebrew equivalents. However, it is a mistake to spell the name of an Old Testament person in one way in the Old Testament and in another way in the New Testament. On the other hand, one should not take a name such as Jesus and make it identical with Joshua, even though they are etymologically related.

For prophet, see 1.2.

Prophets of old must not be rendered as ‘old prophets’ referring to the age of the men in question. The meaning is ‘one of the prophets who lived long ago’ or ‘one of the prophets who lived in the days of our ancestors.’

Heard of it is in some languages ‘heard what Jesus was doing,’ since it may be entirely too vague a reference to be intelligible.

Beheaded poses a subtle problem in some languages which distinguish carefully between primary and secondary agency, i.e. whether the grammatical subject actually performed an action or whether he caused it to be done through another. Obviously, Herod himself did not do the beheading, and hence, one may translate ‘caused to be beheaded’ or ‘ordered men to cut off his head.’

Has been raised is ‘has come back to life’ or ‘is living again’ (see 6.14).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 6:15

6:15a

In Greek, 6:15a has a conjunction that can be translated as “but.” For example, the Revised Standard Version says:

But others said

This conjunction shows a contrast between what the people in 6:14 were saying and what the people in 6:15 were saying. Some versions do not translate this conjunction. You should begin 6:15a in a way that is natural in your language.

Others were saying, “He is Elijah”: Other people thought that Jesus was the prophet Elijah who had come back to earth. Elijah had lived hundreds of years before and was one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history. Some people thought that he had come back to the earth as Jesus.

He is Elijah: Since readers may not know who Elijah is, it might be helpful to translate this as:

He is the prophet Elijah.
-or-
He is Elijah, the prophet of long ago.

If you are including footnotes or a glossary in your translation, you could use them to explain briefly who Elijah was. You could include the reference to the story about God taking Elijah to heaven in 2 Kings 2:1–11.

6:15b

and still others: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and still others is literally “and others” or “but others.” The Berean Standard Bible adds the word still to show that this refers to a third group of people.

You should refer to this third group in a way that is natural in your language.

still others: In Greek there is a verb which means “were saying” after the Greek phrase that The Berean Standard Bible translates as still others. The Berean Standard Bible leaves the Greek word meaning “were saying” implied but some languages may need to follow the Greek and use these words. Do whatever would be most natural in your language. The verb meaning “were saying” that the Berean Standard Bible leaves untranslated here, is the same Greek verb which the Berean Standard Bible translates as “were saying” in 6:14c and 6:15a. If you choose to translate the verb meaning “were saying” here, you can use the same verb you used in 6:14c or a different verb with the same basic meaning.

He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old: The third group of people did not identify Jesus as a particular prophet. Instead, they said that he was like the ancient prophets. This seems to show that they did not believe that he was one of the ancient prophets now living again. Rather, they thought that he was a modern prophet who resembled those who had spoken to their people in the past.

prophets: The wordprophets means men who speak on behalf of God. A prophet tells people what God has revealed to him, and he also gives them messages from God.

Here are some other ways to translate prophet:

a spokesman for God
-or-
a man who speaks God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speaker

When choosing a term for prophet, consider how you will translate other words which are similar in meaning such as “angel,” “apostle,” and “preacher.”

While prophets did foretell the future, this was not their only function. Avoid using a word that focuses on telling the future.

See how you translated this word in 1:2a and 6:4b. See also prophet in the Glossary.

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